Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-06-24
sfned, in his eyes a perfect female 81,

refined, in his eyes perfect female. 81.
is his against the univere. He want.
her. The possession must be absolute
ana unquestioned. None of the graces.
ene pleasures, or the obligations Of
"hat is known as society need to be pit
away or abandoned for single moment
The only stipulation that the man make.
IS tor home, for his wife to be mistress.
OF that home, and for his own inexora-
BILE possession Of that mistress and that
household.
How, then, must he feel when one
day he awakes to the realization of the
fact that the woman of his idolatry ia
about to become an actress. That the
modesty which once shrank timidly
from the bashful ardor of his own WOO
ing is about to face with brazen stare
the hateful simmer of the footlights,
That the cheeks which once burnt red
under "A single caress is about to be
slobbered over by professional lechers.
That the lips that had told him of her
love in the soft hush of the twilight
were to have lips laid upon them that
never made vow Of passion that was
not broken, nor plighted faith to con-
fiding woman that did not wreck her
life by wrecking chastity. That the
form which once to him was all that he
had imagined of the grace and poetry
OF motion was to be girt about by other
arms and find rest and contentment
upon other bosoms.
What if it is all acting, and simula-
ton, and make-believe, did the man
marry the woman to get only acting,
and stimulation, and make-believe? It
is the contamination which kills him
to the soul. 1t is the fondling, the
kissing, the caressing, the soldering
which makes the farce so horrible to
him. 1t is the bosom bear to the
breasts which makes him shudder as
one is supposed to shudder when some-
body treads upon the spot where he is
to be buried. 1t is the exposure of
person which puts the indesc1ibable
charm of modesty to death, and puts in
the place of the one holy and idola-
trous love of his lifetime q painted,
rouged, furbelowed, and belizened
thing, running hither and thither at the
call of this or that manager. set upon
by hbertines, conned over by insuffer-
able puppies, prosecuted with indecent
proposals, kesought for interviews and
assignations-in the name of everything
which goes to make up the humanizing
influences Of home and the tranquil
and sustaining pleasures OF married
life, what is man to do under such
circumstances except to subjugate his
wife or quit her.
In the old days in Rome if she had
not listened to and obeyed her hus-
band she would have been killed. A
little touch of the steel even now might
not be a bad transaction. II the family
is to continue in the future as it has
been in the past-the bulwark Of lib
erty and the adalnantine foundation of
the Statc-more power ought to be
given to the head OF it. In the days
when giants were, the wives were home
women and perfectly obedient. One
would no more have thought of aspir-
ing to any public position without her
husbands consent, much less of be-
coming an actress, than she would have
thought of strangling her sleeping first
born in its cradle It is now time for
old things to become new again. kan
sas City Times.